Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Grade Inflation

No, realistic. I'm more of a big picture person, too. I guess there has to be some sort of standard in order to sort and classify.

Not to me!

My best friend in high school was my lab partner in physics. He became an engineer, so the class was right up his alley...except for the fact that he made dumb detail errors. I was mostly clueless about what we were doing before he taught me the material through the experiments, but I always caught his dumb mistakes. We both got As and knew what we were doing in the end.

So yeah, I hear you!

Grade inflation and the hyper-competitive attitude of the Fairgrade parents is just another example of the commodification of education and it really, really REALLY bothers me.

I think what bugs me the most about this is that it allows the schools to pretend that the education they provide is better than it is. It also gives the students a false impression of subject mastery.

Sorry, but if all those kids are getting As in such Advanced and Difficult AP subjects, why do American students do so poorly on international exams like PISA? And why do so many students struggle to pass watered down high school exit exams? And why do so very many students have trouble when they enter college? And don't even get me started on standards in expository writing (or even spelling).

I think most of us know students who had to re-take introductory calculus after getting As in calculus and high scores on the AP exams. I know I do. In fact, I remember a discussion about this very subject recently. A member here indicated that the high school class was not up to the standard of the course at the local college, and that if he took it, her son would just have to start all over again when he went to college.

The Post article said that 36% of the students at a high school in Virginia graduate with a 4.0 "or higher" average. Please---what rubbish. Even the 5% cited at the school campaigning for a new grading system is ridiculously high. When too many people get an A in too many subjects, the A becomes meaningless. And when so many people get all As...well, something's really wrong.

In fact, grade inflation reminds me of gifted inflation, in which "everyone is gifted." Hmm. If everyone is gifted, no one is.


Scantron/multiple choice tests aren't designed to offer partial credit. Edumacation strikes another blow at the American mind.

I guess I must sound bitter now! Really, I'm happy (but also idealistic).

Val

I tend to think the scantron/multiple choice tests that are so prevalent in many high schools are too much easier than having to come up with the term/date/name for a short answer/essay test-recognition versus recall plus explanation.

A couple years ago, I saw an 8th grade honors algebra test taped to the wall of the Mathnasuim while my son took the free initial evaluation. The student had scored a 100% on this �fill-in-the-blanks� exam. I really feel that the students could do much more, but that was the benchmark and they had aced it!

My son�s school offers the far other end of the spectrum. His 8th grade algebra 1 exams have more problems than he has ever seen on a math test, 60 plus extra credit. No calculators are allowed and the grading scale is 93 and above for an A with no partial credit. The teacher was very pleased that the class only had a 25% D and F rate as opposed to the usual 50% for the first test!

Now I know my son is (and has been for the previous two years) learning math well. However, I am concerned that his 92% B will be compared unfavorably to the more easily attained As that are the norm at the public schools.